The environment of inpatient units has improved and high standards of food and privacy and dignity have been maintained across the NHS over the past year, according to research by the National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA).
As part of the agency’s annual Patient Environment Action Team (PEAT) assessments, inspections were carried out at NHS hospitals and units in England with more than ten inpatient beds. Teams looked at environment, food, and privacy and dignity. Each site was given a rating of “excellent”, “good”, “acceptable”, “poor” or “unacceptable”. The findings showed that 84% of the 1,265 sites scored either excellent or good for their environment, which assessed standards of cleanliness, decoration, linen, furniture and state of repair. Ninety-four per cent of sites achieved an excellent or good rating for levels of privacy and dignity which examined the quality of sleeping accommodation as well as toilet/ bathroom facilities. Ninety-five per cent of sites scored excellent or good for quality, choice and availability of food for patients. The figures for both of these remain unchanged from last year. There were 219 sites that scored excellent on all three PEAT categories. However, 17 out of the 1,265 sites were also rated poor or unacceptable on at least one category. Chief executive of the NPSA, Martin Fletcher, said: “While these findings are encouraging, there is still work to be done. This data will help Trusts to further improve the experiences patients have while in NHS care.”
